Does a book similar to this one exist? (warship encyclopedia).

[Ravens]

Hi everyone.

 

The book that I have is The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers, by Tony Gibbons. I'm on the look out for similar volumes that deals with cruisers and destroyers and was wondering if anybody can recommend anything that fits the criteria?

 

The hardback by Tony Gibbons lists all the classes of big gun warship from Gloire onwards, and has profile drawings of each ship class accompanied by a brief paragraph containing various specifications and outlining the background and characteristics of the ship. Here's an image of a typical page:

 

 

What I like about this book is that you can follow the evolution of the warships throughout the ages, as the ships are listed in chronological order according to their appearance on the world stage. You can see the changes to how the different navies of the world approached warship design and responded to each other's developments as technology advanced. There are also entries for ships that were designed or laid down but not completed. I highly recommend it, if battleships are your thing.

 

Regards,

Ross.

[Alan P]

Does look like quite an interesting format, the closest things I have to that are MJ Whitley's 'An International Encyclopedia of...' books on Cruisers and Destroyers respectively. Unfortunately they only cover the WW2 period but have a similar format compared to your excerpt with possibly more photos but fewer illustrations.

[Ravens]

10 hours ago, Alan P said:

Does look like quite an interesting format, the closest things I have to that are MJ Whitley's 'An International Encyclopedia of...' books on Cruisers and Destroyers respectively. Unfortunately they only cover the WW2 period but have a similar format compared to your excerpt with possibly more photos but fewer illustrations.

Thanks Alan. Those could well be the next best thing to what I'm looking for, and they sound quite interesting so I'll definitely check them out.

 

Kind regards,

Ross.

[AWFK10]

I remember "The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers" well, I used to have a copy (which I bought new: that must be knocking on 40 years ago). Before I read Alan's response, the same two books he's suggested came to mind. I don't think there's anything else comparable to that Salamander book that covers all countries' cruisers and destroyers in the same level of detail, though there are some that cover individual navies. I know that's not really what you're asking after but in case it's any use two (smallish) books I have are:

 

Cruisers of the Royal and Commonwealth Navies, by Douglas Morris (Maritime Books 1987, ISBN 0 90771 35 1). Covers the Iris class of 1879 through to the Tiger class of the 1960s. It gives you the specs for each class, with at least one photo, and outlines the career of each individual ship.

 

Destroyers of the Royal Navy 1893 - 1981, by Maurice Cocker (Ian Allan 1981, ISBN 0 7110 1075 7). Similar but without the potted history of every ship - not surprisingly, as there were a lot more destroyers than cruisers.

 

Both long OOP, of course, but probably obtainable secondhand at a reasonable price (he says optimistically). You might also be interested in this, if you've not seen it (no connection with the seller, I've just linked to this copy to illustrate the book). It has a line drawing of every class of RN metal warship. It's actually a combined edition of two earlier titles on wooden and metal ships.

 

There are also some specialised and very detailed works that between them comprehensively cover the development of RN cruisers and destroyers from Victorian times onwards but as you'ld expect they're expensive to very expensive, and I should think they'ld be overkill for what you're after anyway. There are probably similar books for other navies but I'm not well up on those.

[stevehnz]

Something like this perhaps. I seem to remember a more generalised ship book I had, but not sure where it is now nor exactly what it covered.

Steve.

[Modelholic]

I like the comparison silhouettes with HMS Dreadnought

Always good to have a bit of perspective!

Tom

edit:

You should have a look at 'Cruisers in Camera' by Roger Hayward as well.

Edited November 19, 2021 by Modelholic

[Ravens]

58 minutes ago, AWFK10 said:

I remember "The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers" well, I used to have a copy (which I bought new: that must be knocking on 40 years ago). Before I read Alan's response, the same two books he's suggested came to mind. I don't think there's anything else comparable to that Salamander book that covers all countries' cruisers and destroyers in the same level of detail, though there are some that cover individual navies. I know that's not really what you're asking after but in case it's any use two (smallish) books I have are:

 

Cruisers of the Royal and Commonwealth Navies, by Douglas Morris (Maritime Books 1987, ISBN 0 90771 35 1). Covers the Iris class of 1879 through to the Tiger class of the 1960s. It gives you the specs for each class, with at least one photo, and outlines the career of each individual ship.

 

Destroyers of the Royal Navy 1893 - 1981, by Maurice Cocker (Ian Allan 1981, ISBN 0 7110 1075 7). Similar but without the potted history of every ship - not surprisingly, as there were a lot more destroyers than cruisers.

 

Both long OOP, of course, but probably obtainable secondhand at a reasonable price (he says optimistically). You might also be interested in this, if you've not seen it (no connection with the seller, I've just linked to this copy to illustrate the book). It has a line drawing of every class of RN metal warship. It's actually a combined edition of two earlier titles on wooden and metal ships.

 

There are also some specialised and very detailed works that between them comprehensively cover the development of RN cruisers and destroyers from Victorian times onwards but as you'ld expect they're expensive to very expensive, and I should think they'ld be overkill for what you're after anyway. There are probably similar books for other navies but I'm not well up on those.

Those sound like good suggestions. I've worn out my battleship book to the point where I know more about central battery ships and French pre-Dreadnoughts than I ever imagined, and fresh material will be most welcome.

 

I know what you mean about prices for these books. I spotted an appealing hardback about the imperial Russian navy in my local second-hand bookstore and it was around £30 ten years ago.

 

Cheers,

Ross.

[Ravens]

26 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

Something like this perhaps. I seem to remember a more generalised ship book I had, but not sure where it is now nor exactly what it covered.

Steve.

Sounds like that book could be more about capital ships rather than an in-focus look at workhorse vessels like cruisers, but I appreciate the suggestion. 

 

I suspect that what might thwart my search is that the progress of destroyers and cruisers was perhaps not quite as turbulent and unpredictable as that of big gun warships, hence there might not be as much desire to chart their evolution through the decades.

 

Thanks,

Ross.

[Ravens]

19 minutes ago, Modelholic said:

I like the comparison silhouettes with HMS Dreadnought

Always good to have a bit of perspective!

Tom

Surprisingly some of the pre-Dread's are almost as long as Dreadnought, but they lack the machinery and the armament arrangement to compete. Then you get to the back of the book and the Iowas and the Vanguard are twice the size; just goes to show how the rapid the naval arms race was, and why the mid-war treaties happened.

 

Regards,

Ross.